It was dark and stormy night….

It was after dark and it was snowing hard enough that we could not see the school across the street from us. The temperature was around 4 degrees F. …. when a neighbor knocked on our door for help dealing with 2 kids [maybe 8 to 11 years old and their 2 dogs. They were wet and cold from being out all afternoon. One did not have socks on and the other’s socks were wringing wet. While they did have coats on they did not have hats or gloves.

Due to the blowing snow they were disoriented and lost, they could not tell which way home was.

A phone was provided and they called home. The 14 year old who was watching them simply told them that they needed to come home and hung up on them. [The parents had gone shopping at noonish and left the 14 year old in charge] it was now 1830 – 1900. the lost kids had been gone from home at least 6 hours by their account.

at this point the local police were called. It was not long at all before the police arrived.

Prior to showing up at the senior apartments the kids had been sheltering at the school in an outside recycling bin with a 3rd kid and dog. Nobody knew where this 3rd kid was as he was no longer at the recycling bin when another officer went to look for him. An apb [all points bulletin] was issued and the kid was located back at home – he had hitched a ride with a stranger which was kind of scary on it’s own.

Turns out that the mom had left her phone at home and the dad’s phone was dead. As an aside even if you have to post a check list on your door before you leave make sure that you have your phone with you and a way to charge it too.

I bet that the parents and the police are going to have a nice long chat over this situation

those kids very easily could have died or kidnapped in this situation.

Lessons learned from this

make sure that everyone knows their street address and the family phone numbers.
Have set check in times
dress right for the weather
make sure others know where you are and routes of travel.